Dalai Lama, his succession and its significance | SAM Vignette - video Dailymotion

South Asia Monitor

Dalai Lama, his succession and its significance | SAM Vignette

Transcript

00:00In 2010, during an interview with me, the Dalai Lama had said that when he turned about 90,

00:06he would decide whether to continue the institution of the Dalai Lama.

00:11At that point and for years after that, he was uncertain whether it should continue or perhaps

00:17be ended with him, given that China was bent upon hijacking and exploiting it to tighten

00:24its control over Tibet and its future. I found it quite remarkable that he was certain in his

00:29mind that not only would he live to be 90, but even be in a position to make that determination.

00:36Fifteen years later, today in Maklod Ganj in Himachal Pradesh in India, the Dalai Lama has

00:42put to rest all questions about the institution's future. He has announced that there will be a

00:48successor to him after his death. In reaffirming that, the 14th Dalai Lama has opted to preserve

00:55the centuries-old tradition of finding his reincarnation rather than yield to the short-term

01:01strategic temptation of outwitting China by naming one in his own lifetime.

01:07This ends years of uncertainty over the defining question of who after him.

01:14The language of the announcement, which comes four days before his 90th birthday on July 6th,

01:20is constructed to emphatically say that Beijing will have no role at all to play in the matter of

01:27choosing his successor. In his statement today, the Dalai Lama said, and I quote him,

01:34The trust was set up by the Dalai Lama with the primary responsibility to determine his reincarnation

01:53after his death. Contrary to the long-standing popular expectation that the Dalai Lama could

01:58announce an interim successor until a reincarnation is determined after his death, he has chosen the

02:06option that sets the stage for a long-term conflict between Beijing and the institution of the Dalai

02:12Lama. It is clear now that the next Dalai Lama will be from outside China and Tibet. This flies in

02:19the face of the Chinese government's insistence that the Dalai Lama will be from China and will have to

02:25be approved by it. It is entirely possible and even likely that at some point after the current Dalai

02:32Lama passes away, there will be two rival Dalai Lamas, one chosen in accordance with the centuries-old

02:38tradition of locating a reincarnation and the other handpicked by the communist establishment

02:44under their control. Reports from Beijing suggest that the government is already in the process of

02:51creating a narrative where their own Dalai Lama will become more acceptable. As part of that effort,

02:57officials are being sent to schools and offices to explain how the government will choose their Dalai

03:03Lama. Over the last 14 years, there has been uncertainty over the question of whether the institution

03:09of the Dalai Lama will continue after his death. At a meeting of the heads of the Tibetan

03:15spiritual traditions on 24th September 2011, he had said, and I quote him,

03:21as far back as 1969, I made clear that concerned people should decide whether the Dalai Lama's

03:29reincarnation should continue in the future, unquote. In his statement today, he said, and I quote again,

03:35I also said when I'm about 90, I will consult the high Lama of the Tibetan Buddhist traditions,

03:41the Tibetan public and other concerned people who follow Tibetan Buddhism to re-evaluate whether or

03:48not the institution of the Dalai Lama should continue, unquote. What has persuaded the Dalai Lama

03:54to continue the institution beyond his lifetime is that over the last 14 years, various Tibetan Buddhist

04:00stakeholders from around the world have appealed to him that it should continue. In the statement today,

04:07the Dalai Lama said, and I quote him again, although I have had no public discussions on this issue

04:12over the last 14 years, leaders of Tibet's spiritual traditions, member of the Tibetan parliament in

04:18exile, participants in a special general body meeting, members of the central Tibetan administration,

04:25NGOs, Buddhists from the Himalayan region, Mongolia, Buddhist republics of the Russian Federation,

04:31and Buddhists in Asia, including mainland China, have written to me with reasons earnestly requesting

04:37that the institution of the Dalai Lama continue. In particular, I have received messages to various

04:44channels from Tibetans in Tibet making the same appeal. In accordance with all these requests,

04:51I am reaffirming that the institution of the Dalai Lama will continue, unquote, he said.

04:56Although the institution of the Dalai Lama primarily concerns some six million Tibetans in Tibet,

05:03its future has global significance. Hundreds of millions of non-Tibetan Buddhists do look up to

05:10the Dalai Lama as someone representing the more than 2,500-year-old philosophy of Gautam Buddha.

05:18China could not have realistically expected the Dalai Lama would just step aside and let it ride

05:23roughshod over what the Tibetan people regard as the most potent symbol of their traditions.

05:31It is from that standpoint that the announcement today becomes even more significant. He's reclaiming

05:38future history rather than letting China gradually erase all traces of the uniqueness of the Tibetan

05:45culture. So far, Beijing has simply waited for the Dalai Lama's death and make even deeper

05:51inroads into Tibetan life. With this announcement, it is now up against a formidable bloc, especially

05:57because the Dalai Lama has reached the decision after widespread global consultation. It is now

06:05inevitable that the 15th Dalai Lama will be from outside China and Tibet. If that turns out to be from

06:12among the Tibetan community exiled in India, it will set the stage for even greater tensions between the

06:18two countries. Reincarnations of Dalai Lama's are a highly guarded and secretive process as part of

06:25which potential children are subjected to a rigorous series of tests to establish their knowledge of

06:32their past lives. In the case of the 15th Dalai Lama, the prospective children will be required to

06:38remember specific details of the current Dalai Lama's life, including perhaps some personal objects.

06:44Scholars who preferred a sort of placeholder successor to be named in his lifetime have

06:51pointed out the dangers of the long gap between a new reincarnation after its death growing in stature and

06:58influence and Beijing hijacking the institution and propping up its own Dalai Lama.

07:05Perhaps the Dalai Lama's thinking has been to preserve the sanctity of the mystical process of finding a

07:11reincarnation the way he was found when he was two years old. His announcement today reclaims that history

07:18and poses a great challenge to China when it embarks on its own process of declaring the next Dalai Lama.

07:28The challenge for Beijing will be to persuade the Tibetan people even while tightening control over the future of

07:35Tibet and its ancient traditions. Thank you for watching.

Dalai Lama, his succession and its significance | SAM Vignette

Category

Transcript

Recommended